Svatos scores decisive goal as Avalanche edge Kings

News

Svatos scores decisive goal as Avalanche edge Kings

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- When it comes to shootouts, no teamcomes through like the Colorado Avalanche.

Marek Svatos and Milan Hejduk scored in the shootout and PeterBudaj stopped both shots he faced in the bonus format as theAvalanche posted a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings onSaturday.

Budaj stopped Patrick O'Sullivan's wrist shot before Svatos beatgoaltender Erik Ersberg between the pads with a backhander.Captain Dustin Brown was denied on Los Angeles' second attempt,and Hejduk slipped in another backhander to seal the win.

Hejduk, Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny scored in regulation andBudaj stopped 27 shots for the Avalanche, who snapped a two-gameskid despite the continued absence of captain Joe Sakic due to aback injury.

"(Budaj) has been very solid the last couple of weeks," Coloradocoach Tony Granato said. "And when you're confident in yourgoalie, that makes a difference in every game."

Colorado has now won all four of its shootouts this season, andeight in a row dating back to last season - the longest activestreak in the league.

"It's a huge win. We're playing good hockey," Avalanche rightwing Ian Laperriere said. "We came here for a battle and wecame out with two points."

O'Sullivan, Brown and Alexander Frolov tallied and Ersberg made26 saves for the Kings, who have lost three of four (1-2-1).

"A shootout loss is a shootout loss," Brown said. "It's 50-50,really. They had better shooters than we did."

"Maybe we had a few letdowns, but we've got to work from that,"Kings rookie defenseman Drew Doughty said.

Trailing by a goal after two periods, the Kings took their firstlead of the night when O'Sullivan and Brown scored in a span of74 seconds early in the third.

It did not take long for Colorado to respond, however, asStastny knotted it at 3-3 with a deflection in front of the netless than 2 1/2 minutes later.

"They have a lot of skilled forwards and they all shoot thepuck," Brown said. "A lot of their chances were off thescramble of blocked shots. Whether they were getting blocked orErsberg was making saves, it's hard for our defensive group torespond to all the shots."

Things got heated in the second period, when John Zeiler laid abig hit on Colorado defenseman Adam Foote, which resulted in abrief delay due to the injury and an ensuing melee.

Zeiler leveled Foote with a vicious blow into the boards nearlyseven minutes into the session, sending the veteran to the ice,where he lay motionless for a few moments. Paramedics wheeled astretcher onto the ice, but Foote was able to skate off withsome assistance.

Foote was diagnosed with a back injury and did not return.

"I saw Foote on the ground, and I kind of knew it wasn't a cleanhit because he was hit from behind," Laperriere said. "We alljumped in there to back up our teammate. But those hits have tostop before someone gets hurt or even killed. Guys have to besmarter, and it has to come from the players. The league canonly do so much."

When the dust settled, five players received penalties -including Zeiler, who was given a boarding major and gamemisconduct as well as a roughing minor.

Less than a minute earlier, Wolski had given the Avalanche a 2-0lead with a power-play goal. But the Kings halved the deficitwith 4:15 left in the period, when Frolov's slap shot skiddedpast Budaj.

"They were stronger on the puck," Los Angeles coach Terry Murraysaid. "They were controlling the small areas of the game in thefirst two periods, but to come back the way we did in the earlypart of the third period is a big effort."

Like Foote, Wolski ended up departing after taking a big hit.Kings defenseman Sean O'Donnell crunched the Pole's head intothe end boards in the third, chasing him from the game.